


By Any other...

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Twins!verse [6]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Baby Fic, Kid Fic, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 21:19:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1319584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Resolving a few complications.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Any other...

Dick finally made it down into Roy's (their?, wow) room. For all the years he and Roy had been lovers on and off, they'd never given in and moved into a single room -- for a lot of reasons. None of them seemed worth it, now. He paused to listen, seeing if the babies were awake or asleep, and where Roy was. 

Roy was crashed out on the bed, which had been moved, so that the bassinets were still side by side, but up at the head, where Roy could get to them quicker.

Dick slowly worked his way back out of his armor and crawled in next to him, gently draping an arm over his shoulders. //Three hours, and up to get down to the Haven... I can do this.// 

"Mmm....'mano..." Roy nuzzled into him sleepily, opening his eyes. "We have a tiny problem."

"Oh?" //God, what now?// He shifted to lay back, letting Roy drape up over him. "What is it?"

"Well, Donna got to thinking, and she found a blue ribbon for one, and a red ribbon for the other, but .... They have no names, Robbie!" Roy looked perfectly stressed out by that fact. Names defined people, and until their sons were named...

"Yeah, Timmy pointed that out to me, too," Dick sighed, writing off his sleep for the night, and stroked his hand over Roy's hair, feeling it tangle around his fingers. "Okay... names. We need four, right, first and middle for both of them?" 

"Yes." Roy shifted just enough to be fully comfortable on Dick. "I think the red hair merits my last name, and makes it less confusing for Lian," he teased.

Dick snorted, then shifted enough to brush his cheek against Roy's. "You're probably right." 

Roy blinked. "Wait... you were supposed to argue, Short-Pants. And then I argue back, and eventually we decide a hypenated name is best, and have to pick which order..."

"Roy, I'm _tired_ , and it makes sense."

Roy got quiet then, his hands sliding under Dick's shoulders to hold him tight.

Dick curled against him, pressing into his hold, making a low, soft noise at the feel of Roy's arms around him. "Besides, I didn't know this had a script."

"It's us. We argue. Always. But good arguing."

"True... I think we'll get enough arguing with the rest of their names -- or maybe not..." He shrugged, pressing up against Roy's solid warmth.

Roy pressed his lips to Dick's throat, careful not to mark, as he lingered there. "Got any suggestions? I'm not making a Third. I don't mind being a junior, but 'the Third' would be smart-assed and pretentious."

"Not like anyone but us remembers you are, anyway, but you're right." He purred softly, pressing into that touch as well, and nodded slightly. "Thought about it some on the way up... came up with a couple of options, even." 

"And? I've got one or two ideas floating in my head."

"Trade you back and forth? .John, was one..." 

Roy nodded slowly. "Appropriate, 'mano... you've got more reason to hang onto a family name." He took a deep breath. "Raymond."

//Raymond, Raymond... _oh_.// He nodded as he placed the name as the Navajo elder that had raised Roy's real name. "Good name. Might wind up being a Ray, knowing us, but it works. The only other name I could come up with... is Thomas. I'm not naming one of our kids after Bruce, but his dad, though." 

"Yeah, cause Alfred's not really a hip name these days..." Roy told him, a twinkle in his eye. He then looked like he was trying not to be too obvious. "I wouldn't mind one of them being a Lance."

"Alfie would protest that it was not proper. I thought about it," Dick said softly, then tipped his head... and chuckled. "I should have known. Perfectly good boy's name."

"Now we just need to combine them." Roy thought about it, saying various combinations softly. "Raymond Lance, John Thomas. Raymond Thomas, John Lance. John Raymond, Lance Thomas."

"...I think.. you had it right the first time, Roy..." 

"Then..." Roy looked up at the ribboned babies. "The red ribbon is Ray, and the blue one is John."

"Obviously..." Dick said with a slow grin. "...Roy? Did we really just name the kids that easily?" 

Roy grinned. "Okay, so we don't argue all the time."

"Not all the time," Dick agreed softly, and quite calmly decided to leave springing that Slade'd been on the island until tomorrow afternoon, when someone else would have the babies. 

*~*~*

The buzz of something out of the ordinary was quite clear; the entire precinct seemed to be agitating in a wave that began at the desk sergeant. 

Dick was trying to be alert despite his lack of sleep -- much to the amusement of his partner, and looked up at the door when the buzz hit. He glanced over at her, "Was there supposed to be something today?" 

"Not that I know of," Amy told him. She looked too, catching the sight of Bruce Wayne, Prince of Gotham, striding angrily in with bodyguard on one side and personal assistant on the other. 

"This is completely unacceptable, son! How dare you come to this town, risking yourself enough just by -- living here?! and this _job_! Dick, I meant it when I said NO!" The words were delivered in the full patrician sneer of old money and snobbery toward such an upstart town.

Dick hissed and went to his feet, tossing his head back, his own jaw tightening. "Bruce, I'm _not_ a kid anymore, _not_ under your rule, and _unlike_ some people I could name I'd rather be doing something that matters! I meant it when I said I was going to the Academy, did you miss that part? God knows you missed the graduation -- well, now I know why." //Sorry Bruce!// 

"Dick, I will not allow this! You have a place waiting for you at the company. A place you'll be safe, and where you can live up to all the effort that went into your education!" Bruce came face to face with his 'son', looking down at him with hard blue eyes. 

"A place you know real well that I _don't_ want, never have wanted! And that education you shoved me into can take a flying leap, or did you forget just how much I hated it?" //God, we've had this fight when we meant every word of it... It's not really any easier when we don't -- why isn't it?// "I'm no --" he forced himself to take a breath and stop. "No. What I'm not going to do is fight with you, again, this publicly." 

"Good. At least you've learned one thing." Bruce let a satisfied 'I won' smile touch his lips. "I'll finish having a word with your...supervisor...and we'll be on our way home." He turned to go to the chief's office -- the wrong way -- and his assistant redirected him. 

Dick forced his shoulders to un-knot and tried one more thing, one he _knew_ wouldn't work (it can't work), but that needed to be seen, "Bruce, don't do this. I'm a good cop." 

Bruce turned back to his adopted son with a sigh. "Dick, you might be....but It's not what you're supposed to be. I didn't take you into my home, my family to throw your life away on drug pushers and prostitute stings. Come back home, and make a real difference in the company." 

"I haven't wanted to deck you this badly since I was seventeen," Dick told him, his eyes snapping -- and with everything this fight had dragged up, it was close enough to true to make him uncomfortable. 

"Hopefully you've grown up enough since then to resist the urge, Dick. Get your things, and go to the car." His voice dropped, dangerously close to the timbre of the Bat, as he brought his full boardroom presence to bear, so no one doubted that Wayne was there for his son in no uncertain terms.

Dick sucked in a breath, let it out, slowly, and looked at his partner. "Ames? Hold on to these for me, all right?" As he reached to unfasten the badge, and slide his pistol out of the holster, barely managing to hold off the very real tears that wanted to fall. This _had_ to happen... that didn't make it any easier to deal with. 

Bruce strode into the chief's office with the full stride of a man who knew money cured everything, his small entourage following along.

“What a bastard," Amy told Dick. "But -- Grayson -- They don't like rich kids on the Force anyway. Now that he's popped off, it's no secret who you are."

"...Why do you think I've never mentioned it, Amy?" Dick asked as he handed them over, struggling to keep it together. "I've got to get out of here... but I'm damned if it's his car I'm headed for. See you around, partner."

"See you, tough kid," she said, watching him go with no little regret.

Despite what he'd said to her, he headed straight for the car, praying Alfred was down there. He saw the Bentley, with the dark windows, and Alfred waiting patiently inside as he reached the street.

//Protocol be damned,// he thought as he pulled the passenger side front door open and slid in, letting himself shake once he pulled it shut again. 

Alfred looked at him, and shook his head sadly. "Ahh, Master Richard." He turned enough to offer a consoling hug to the young man.

Dick slid over into his arms, leaning hard into him. "I..." his voice failed him.

"You are leaving behind a piece of your life that was completely your own doing, young sir. This is not an easy crossroads for you to travel."

"Too close to real, Alfie, too much of what got said..." 

"I can imagine." Alfred sighed softly. "But... do not think this was easy on him, either."

"I know it wasn't, Alfie... but, oh, God this hurt... -- Please tell me the hangers-on have a car of their own." 

"They do. He insisted to them he would need to properly chastise you." Alfred looked up as the threesome came into sight. "There is Master Bruce now... please use the door to acquire the back seat, Master Richard." 

"Aw, Alfie..." Dick barely managed the usual complaint, and slid out to drop into the backseat.

Alfred got out, opened Bruce's door, and then resumed his place as driver. Inside the car, Bruce let out a heavy sigh. "Dick..." He looked at his son. "If I could find twenty men and women on the Gotham force like you, I wouldn't need Batman."

"I..." Dick gave up on control and _moved_ , shoving against Bruce's body. "I know you didn't mean that, but god... too close to some of the fights we really _have_ had... Sorry, I.."

“Shh, Dick... shh. It actively hurt to follow that script, when you have made so much progress that way." Bruce brought one hand up behind Dick's head, stroking the dark hair. "You are an excellent cop."

Dick leaned into him tighter, letting this ease away the case of the shakes and the worst of the grief. "Thanks..."

"Your sons -- my grandchildren," he said, with a quirk of a smile at that. "Need their father to have at least part of his life not involve being shot at, though."

Dick managed to chuckle weakly at that, "I'm not gonna know what to do with myself -- please don't make suggestions right now."

"The only one I have is... enjoy your family." Unspoken was the sentiment lurking in Bruce's eyes, to anyone who knew him, that he wished he had taken more time to do so.

Dick nodded against his shoulder, then shifted up, laying his hand against Bruce's forehead, looking into his eyes -- generally making sure he was okay, with a smile on his lips to make it clear he was only teasing.

Bruce laughed, a proper one. "Besides, now I won't feel as if I am pulling a critical resource if I ask you to help in Gotham from time to time."

Dick grinned slightly, nodding. "There's that... though Alfie might get stuck with the boys if you do." 

"As if having an entire team to do your babysitting isn't enough." Bruce smiled, and Alfred met his eyes in the mirror. This would be for the best, both men knew.

Dick grinned, "That's different. Roy told Ollie... I hear he was completely speechless."

"Speechless? I haven't seen that happen since the day Dinah -- no, no need to spread old things around."

"Oh, no, come on, tell me..."

Bruce shook his head, smiling. "No, this one needs to stay buried."

"Bruce..." he complained, "Come on, Roy'd love it..."

That made Bruce throw his head back and laugh. "I doubt that, chum." 

Alfred snorted from the front seat. "Mister Queen had more than enough to say by the end of that little encounter, Master Bruce."

"... _That_ bad? Wow... Okay, maybe you're right. Oh, I've got names for the boys, now, for those papers..."

Bruce settled and nodded. "So, what did you and he choose?"

"Raymond Lance and John Thomas, and Harper because they both turned out with the red hair."

"Harper." Bruce's lips twitched at that, but the look on his face had more to do with the 'Thomas' than anything else.

"Fitting, Master Richard. Quite fitting."

Dick shrugged. "Easier than arguing about which name went where with the hypen -- I wanted to get _some_ sleep. ...You don't mind, do you?" 

"I'm honored."

Dick smiled at that, and managed to finally relax. //Good...// "Alfie, where're you headed?" he asked, glancing at their surroundings for the first time in a bit. 

"I am taking the both of you to your apartment, Master Richard...to tidy up and ready it for your friends to move."

“Oh, lord, _moving_...” Dick sighed theatrically.


End file.
